Jesus had walked the countryside, going from town to town, teaching in Jewish meeting places with every opportunity given to Him.  Jesus even crossed the lake to walk and talk, heal and reveal God to the Gentiles (anyone not a Jew) living there.  Jesus would bring unbelievers to believe in Him by showing them the love of God as the glory of God was in Him.  Now, on this last night of freedom, Jesus looked forward to spending this last Passover with his disciples who had left all behind to follow him for three years.  Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, giving all of us a significant lesson in servanthood, “showing the full extent of His love” to them. Of all the times we see the bowing knees of Jesus, none is so precious as when he kneels before his disciples and washes their feet.  This is one of many demonstrations of the love Jesus has for the people God has created. 

Then Jesus, knowing what He must do to eternally save them and the world of the sins that plague humanity; delivers this final command, not a suggestion, or it would be great if you would, but a command which carried as much weight and intention as the original Ten Commandments: “Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.”

Obedience to this new command to love like Jesus will draw others to this Love that has no bounds, is relentless and unlimited, without conditions, and forever.  In fact, Jesus adds that this how the world will recognize His love in us—by the way we love each other.  The most crucial evidence of our love for Jesus is the demonstration of the “full extent” of our love for each other.  To love like Jesus love us?  Yes, this is new to the world.  To love like Jesus will indeed grasp the attention of others who desperately want to be loved.

John 13, The Message

A New Command

^31-32 When he (Judas) had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is seen for who he is, and God seen for who he is in him. The moment God is seen in him, God’s glory will be on display. In glorifying him, he himself is glorified—glory all around!

³³ “Children, I am with you for only a short time longer. You are going to look high and low for me. But just as I told the Jews, I’m telling you: ‘Where I go, you are not able to come.’

^34-35 “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

³⁶ Simon Peter asked, “Master, just where are you going?”

Jesus answered, “You can’t now follow me where I’m going. You will follow later.”

³⁷ “Master,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow now? I’ll lay down my life for you!”

³⁸ “Really? You’ll lay down your life for me? The truth is that before the rooster crows, you’ll deny me three times.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“Obedience is better than sacrifice,” says God through Samuel to the current king. (Read to get the full flavor of this truth in 1 Samuel 15:22-23).

Peter loves Jesus, no doubt.  Peter vows to lay down his own life in sacrifice for Jesus at a time when Jesus is telling him a new way to love with a new way to follow.  Later that evening, Peter will indeed deny Jesus but then immediately remember all that Jesus said.  Peter’s heart was broken by of his disobedience.  Why didn’t I do what He said, might have been Peter’s first thought after the third denial and sound of the rooster. 

Guilt from disobedience comes after the alarm has gone off to wake us to reality of our sins.  We can humbly repent and receive the loving forgiveness of Jesus who makes us right with God or we can go on about our lives trying to avoid obedience by doing good things of “sacrifice.”  But our real love for God is expressed in our obedience to Him.

Love one another like I love you, says Jesus.  What does truly mean? 

Max Lucado expresses what Jesus was trying to get us to understand about Jesus’ love for us:

“Hours before his own death, Jesus’ concern is singular. He wants his disciples to know how much he loves them. More than removing dirt, Jesus is removing doubt.

Jesus knows what will happen to his hands and feet at the crucifixion. Within 24 hours they will be pierced and lifeless. Of all the times we’d expect him to ask for the disciples’ attention, this would be one. But he doesn’t.

You can be sure Jesus knows the future of these feet he is washing. These 24 feet will not spend the next day following their Master, defending his cause. These feet will dash for cover at the flash of a Roman sword. Only one pair of feet won’t abandon him in the garden. One disciple won’t desert him at Gethsemane—Judas won’t even make it that far! He will abandon Jesus that very night at the table.

I looked for a Bible translation that reads, “Jesus washed all the disciples’ feet except the feet of Judas,” but I couldn’t find one. What a passionate moment when Jesus silently lifts the feet of his betrayer and washes them in the basin! Within hours the feet of Judas, cleansed by the kindness of the one he will betray, will stand in Caiaphas’s court.

Behold the gift Jesus gives his followers! He knows what these men are about to do. He knows they are about to perform the vilest act of their lives. By morning they will bury their heads in shame and look down at their feet in disgust. And when they do, he wants them to remember how his knees knelt before them and he washed their feet. He wants them to realize those feet are still clean. “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (verse 7).

Remarkable. He forgave their sin before they even committed it. He offered mercy before they even sought it.

This is the love of Christ and we are ordered to love like Jesus loves us.  Pause, pray, repent if you have to like I did this morning.  Then rise up, committed to love like our Savior loves us—without conditions or holding back to evaluate worthiness—just Love.

John will follow up his eye-witness gospel lessons on Love with letters written later to reiterate the truth of Love.  He knows we will need help along the way to fully understand the love of God in Jesus who lived Love. 

Read John’s letter prayerfully, slowly and carefully, taking a paragraph at a time.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” 1 John 4:7-21

Hate and Love cannot occupy the same space in our hearts, minds, and souls.  God and our sins cannot occupy the same space, either.  We must choose then live obedient, fully committed to the choice we make.  Choose wisely.  Believe then love.

Love God.  Love One Another.

Lord,

Thank you for bringing me farther, deeper and wider in understand the full extent of your love for us with how to be obedient in the command to love.  I’m listening and still learning.  I am grateful for what I do know, you loved me before I loved you.  You died for my sins before I sinned against you.  You help us grow in your love so that others will know your love, too.  What amazing love?  How can I turn away from a love like this?  I cannot.  I love you with all my heart, mind, and soul.  Show me ways even today to love others like you love me.

In Jesus Name, Amen